Tibet.

Chapter 1432: Patient Guidance

At noon, Guo Ziyi invited Ma Lin to dinner at the Danfeng Restaurant.

Guo Ziyi was Ma Lin's old boss. They fought side by side and they had a very deep friendship.

Guo Ziyi knew Ma Lin very well. Ma Lin wanted to enter the Council of State and become the Minister of War, but he ultimately failed to fulfill his wish, so he was always depressed and regretful.

As an old boss, Guo Ziyi needed to enlighten Ma Lin.

Guo Ziyi poured him a glass of wine and said with a smile: "I understand that you have been depressed recently. I thought you would figure it out, but I didn't expect you to be confused. I have to enlighten you."

"In fact, I didn't want to be the Minister of War at first, but isn't the Chief of the Martial Arts Hall a concurrent position of the Minister of War? So when I was appointed as the Chief of the Martial Arts Hall, I was ready to join the Political Affairs Hall, and the result was..."

At this point, Ma Lin smiled bitterly, shook his head, raised his glass and drank it all.

Guo Ziyi said slowly: "You have to understand one thing. Once you become a civil official, you can no longer lead troops to fight. Your military career is over. Just like Lei Wanchun, he is now the Minister of the Ministry of Works and the Pacifier of Hebei. He will no longer lead troops to fight. You are the chief priest of the martial arts hall, but you don't have a court position. It means that the emperor is still hesitating. He still wants to use you and send you to war again. After all, you are only 52 years old. This battle with Shiwei is the most important battle in Liaodong, more important than Khitan. Do you want to give up this opportunity? If the opportunity is given to Lei Wanchun, he doesn't want to be the Pacifier of Hebei Road. He will definitely rush to the battlefield, but will he have a chance?
My dear brother, it is easy to be a civil servant, but it is difficult to be a commander-in-chief. You must understand this truth. If the emperor asks you to become a civil servant, it may not be a good thing. "

Ma Lin nodded, "I understand. Thank you for your guidance, Mr. Linggong."

Guo Ziyi said, "I might as well tell you that originally you should be the chief priest of the martial arts hall, Wang Sili, who was also the Minister of War, but Wang Sili suddenly had a stroke, so the emperor temporarily let you serve as the chief priest of the martial arts hall. If Wang Sili can recover, he should serve as the chief priest of the martial arts hall."

"Can Wang Sili recover?"

Guo Ziyi shook his head. "It's getting worse. He can't even speak. I don't think he'll survive this winter."

"Why didn't the emperor use Lei Wanchun as his chief general?"

"This is what I want to remind you of. Lei Wanchun's biggest problem is that he likes to act on his own. In the Battle of Hebei, the emperor was the commander-in-chief at the time. The emperor ordered his army to march north from Xiangzhou to Hengzhou, mainly to defend against Zhu Ci's attack from Yanshan into Hengzhou to seize Jingxing. But Lei Wanchun acted on his own and marched into Weizhou to steal the credit. This was actually his second time acting on his own. After this battle, the emperor never used him again."

Ma Lin hesitated for a moment and said, "But the battlefield changes rapidly, it is impossible to remain unchanged."

Guo Ziyi still shook his head, "You don't understand what I mean. Lei Wanchun is not the commander-in-chief, so he certainly cannot act on his own. You are the commander-in-chief, so you can deploy troops according to changes on the battlefield, but you cannot violate the principles set by the emperor. If the emperor orders to kill everyone, you cannot let people go out of pity. The emperor is definitely not a cruel emperor. If the emperor orders you to kill everyone, you must execute it. We must consider our descendants and cannot make the same mistake of settling the Southern Xiongnu, which led to the final Five Barbarians' Rebellion."

Ma Lin nodded silently, he understood everything.

After they drank a cup, Ma Lin asked again, "General, do you think Bai Xiaode will accept the position of Minister of War?"

Guo Ziyi nodded. "The position of Minister of War has been vacant for so long. It was actually left for him. If he is smart, he will definitely choose the position."

"why?"

"The court wants to force the county system in Anxi, and he is caught in the middle. The court does not expect him to convince the small countries. The court is more worried that he will rebel. Otherwise, why would they call him back to report? This time, it is impossible for him to return to Anxi. The emperor is actually protecting him, fearing that he will make mistakes and ruin his reputation."

"When the old general said that, I understood."

"Just go to Liaoxi with peace of mind, cooperate well with Zhang Dian, and help the emperor to complete his strategy of destroying the Donghu."

In the afternoon, Guo Ziyi took Ma Lin to the Firearms Bureau again. Duan Xueshi heard that his old boss and old comrade-in-arms had arrived, so he went out to greet them in person.

Ma Lin also came from the Anxi Army. He had a close relationship with Duan Xueshi in Anxi and the two had a deep friendship.

Duan Xueshi invited the two men into the back hall and asked them to serve tea.

Guo Ziyi pointed at Ma Lin and said with a smile: "General Ma is about to go to attack Shiwei, so he came to see if you have any good stuff."

Duan Xiushi chuckled, "Aren't the arrow thunder and explosive arrows enough?"

Ma Lin shook his head. "In the grasslands, explosive arrows will not explode when they hit the ground. Instead, they will be easily stepped on and exploded by our soldiers' horses. Explosive arrows are not suitable." Duan Xiushi nodded. "We are still studying the solution to this problem. Or we can design a new explosive arrow, called impact explosive arrow. This kind of explosive arrow will explode as long as it is hit back by force. But it will take half a year to a year. I guess you can't catch up. But I still have a few new things for you."

Duan Xueshi brought them to the exhibition room, where there was a large wooden platform in front of them. The platform was like a sand table, with two armies fighting each other. There were countless small clay cavalrymen, hundreds of them, arranged to look like an army of thousands.

On the other side were Tang army soldiers, including infantry and cavalry, but no archers.

"Envoy Duan, what is this?"

Guo Ziyi pointed at a cylindrical object in front of the infantry and asked.

"This is called a caltrop fire gun, also known as a thunderbolt mill, and is used to deal with cavalry attacks."

Guo Ziyi nodded, "It looks a bit like the caltrop chariot from the past!"

"Yes! It is an upgrade of the firearms of the caltrop chariot. When the enemy rushes over, it will be ignited with rockets, and then a big fire will start. When the enemy cavalry passes over it, it will suddenly explode, and the iron fire bomb inside will kill hundreds of people. The lethality is average, but it can effectively stop the first wave of the grassland cavalry's attack."

“It’s really more practical!”

Ma Lin smiled and said, "Prepare thousands for me!"

Duan Xiushi smiled slightly and said, "There are 2,000 in stock, you can take them all!"

Ma Lin was overjoyed and asked quickly, "What other good things are there?"

"Look at this again!"

The three of them came to a table and saw a wooden box on the table with dense arrows stuck in it. Guo Ziyi blurted out, "The ox cart is full of bees!"

A swarm of crossbows is a method of firing many arrows at once, with the strings pulled by oxen. It appeared during the Han Dynasty but was gradually phased out because it was too inconvenient.

Duan Xiushi nodded, "It is indeed a swarm, but it uses gunpowder to fire. There are 81 heavy arrows in a box. You just need to put them on the ground, open the lid, and then light the matchlock at the enemy. You don't need to reload the arrows and gunpowder, just bring the empty box back."

"This is easy to use. What's its range? How's its penetrating power?" asked Ma Lin.

Duan Xiushi said calmly: "If it doesn't have killing power, I won't give it to you. The range is 500 steps. The shields and leather armor of the grassland people can't stop it. It is a powerful weapon to deal with cavalry attacks."

Guo Ziyi nodded. "If we fire a thousand boxes at a time, that would be 81,000 arrows. Only the power of the Tang Dynasty can do that!"

Duan Xiushi smiled slightly and said, "There are also improved arrow mines!"

Ma Lin perked up, "How to improve it?"

"We don't need the big yellow crossbow anymore. We mainly rely on iron seeds to injure people and horses. The cavalry crossbow can shoot it. The range is 300 steps. After the explosion, a hundred iron seeds burst out. No one within 50 feet will be spared. The key is that it is quenched with a strong poison. It is very strong. No matter whether it is a person or a horse, as long as they are shot, they will fall down within an incense stick. It is extremely poisonous."

"Is there an antidote?"

Duan Xueshi shook his head. "There is no cure. Don't let your soldiers get hurt."

Ma Lin nodded, "We need to use it this time!"

"what is this?"

Guo Ziyi suddenly found a strange thing hanging on the wall.

(End of this chapter)